Ellie’s birthday present from us this year was a dress that I sewed for her.  This was the first piece of clothing (other than some simple pants) that I had sewn for her and now I’m hooked!  I want to sew all her clothes now.  I just need a nanny to watch my kids! 😉

the front view

I used the “Family Reunion” pattern from Olive + S and fabric that I bought for Ellie while we were on vacation in Montana.  I can’t say enough good things about this pattern.  It wasn’t cheap but it taught me so much about dressmaking and was really easy to follow.  I now have a whole set of new sewing skills, thanks to this dress!

while eating cake with Yiayia

while eating grapes with Grandpa (Note the red polka dots for the hem facing – love it!!)

I took the rest of these pictures while she was coloring with sidewalk chalk so the pictures aren’t super clear (too much industrious coloring).

The front of the dress has a series of pintuck pleats along with a little placket with four buttons.  The pintucks are what attracted me to the pattern first!

pintucks on the back too with a button placket! (Sharp eyes will notice that I still have one buttonhole and button to finish – after she put it on this past Sunday, I just sewed it closed with a couple stitches.  I’ll finish it soon!)

puffed sleeves!

It’s hard to see but the hem has six lines of top stitching for detail and to give the hem some weight – I love doing multiple lines of stitching (like on baby blankets or bags).

All in all, this was a super fun project.  I stayed up way too late for 3-4 nights to get it done but I’m glad I did!  And I’m especially glad she consented to wear it on Sunday for Mark’s baptism (more on that to come).  I was afraid she would mutiny!

And yes, about the blog post title – I also did some sewing on this while Ellie was awake because I never would have finished it otherwise.  I was trying to be sneaky about it but at one point, she looked at me and said, “Are you sewing a dress for Ellie’s body?” I had to answer, “Yes,” and she just nodded as if to say, “I knew it,” and went back to playing!